High Street is a
fell
A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...
in the English
Lake District. At 828 metres (2,718 ft), its summit is the highest point in the
far eastern part of the
national park. The fell is named after the
Roman road which ran over the summit.
History
Roman road
A
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
road, a scheduled monument, crosses the fell between
Roman forts at
Brougham
Brougham may refer to:
Transport
* Brougham (carriage), a light four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage
* Brougham (car body), an automobile with a similar style
Automobile models
* Cadillac Brougham, 1987–1992
* Chrysler New Yorker Brougham, c. 1 ...
(''
Brocavum'') near
Penrith and
Ambleside
Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England.
Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern headwater) of Windermere, England's larges ...
(''
Galava''). Although the route takes the road higher than any other Roman road in England, the High Street range has quite gentle slopes and a flat summit
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
, characteristics that may have persuaded Roman surveyors to build the road over the fell tops rather than through the valleys which were densely forested and
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...
y making them susceptible to ambush. There has been speculation that the Romans made use of a prehistoric trackway.
The nature of the Roman road remains problematic, as much of it is sunken in a hollow, rather than being built on top of an embankment or
''agger'' in the usual Roman fashion. Funding was obtained for an archaeological excavation to investigate the Roman road in 2022. This focussed on a stretch of the road at
Bampton Common.
Fairs
The fell's flat summit was also used as a venue for summer
fairs by the local population in the 18th and 19th centuries. People from the surrounding valleys would gather every year on 12 July to return stray sheep to their owners; games and
wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
would also take place as well as horse racing. The summit of High Street is still known as Racecourse Hill, and is so named on maps, and
fell ponies can be found grazing occasionally on its summit. The last of the summer fairs was held in 1835.
Topography
The
River Kent
The River Kent is a short river in the county of Cumbria in England. It originates in hills surrounding Kentmere, and flows for around 20 miles (32 km) into the north of Morecambe Bay. The upper reaches and the western bank of the estuary ...
, which flows south through the town of
Kendal before emptying into
Morecambe Bay
Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second larges ...
, has its source on High Street's southern slopes. Dropping 300 m in 40 km (1000 feet in 25 miles), the Kent is reputed to be the fastest-flowing river in England.
High Street's eastern side is craggy and precipitous as it falls away towards
Haweswater Reservoir
Haweswater is a reservoir in the valley of Mardale, Cumbria in the Lake District, England. Work to raise the height of the original natural lake was started in 1929. It was controversially dammed after the UK Parliament passed a Private Ac ...
. There are two
tarns underneath the eastern crags — Blea Water and Small Water;
Blea Water stands in a classic mountain
corrie and at 200 feet is the deepest tarn in the Lake District.
[Blair, Don: ''Exploring Lakeland Tarns'': Lakeland Manor Press (2003): ]
Summit
A wall follows the ridge over the flat summit, the highest point marked by an
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...
triangulation column which has been painted white. The view stretches from the
Pennines in the east to a great arc of Lakeland hills filling the western horizon. The
Helvellyn range
The Helvellyn range is the name given to a part of the Eastern Fells in the English Lake District, "fell" being the local word for "hill". The name comes from Helvellyn, the highest summit of the group.
The Helvellyn range forms a ridge exten ...
and
Southern Fells
Image:Annotated Scafell range.jpg, 300px, The Scafells
rect 23 372 252 419 Slight Side (762 m)
rect 173 794 560 834 Scafell East Buttress
rect 707 787 893 861 Esk Pike or Crag (885 m)
rect 245 303 409 358 Sca Fell (964 m)
rect 408 238 637 2 ...
are particularly striking.
Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume '' Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'', publis ...
:''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells
''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' is a series of seven books by A. Wainwright, detailing the fells (the local word for hills and mountains) of the Lake District in northwest England. Written over a period of 13 years from 1952, they ...
'', Book 2:
Ascents
The climb from
Mardale
Mardale is a glacial valley in the Lake District, in northern England. The valley used to have a hamlet at its head, called Mardale Green, but this village was submerged in the late 1930s when the water level of the valley's lake, Haweswater, w ...
is an exhilarating ridge walk, with views down into Riggindale which at one time might have been supplemented by the sight of a
golden eagle
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of ...
.
[A Wainwright, ''Wainwright in the Valleys of Lakeland'' (London 1992) p. 31] Riggindale had the only bird of this kind left in England, a solitary male, which had been on its own there since 2004, but has not been seen since 2016. High Street can also be climbed from
Patterdale
Patterdale (Saint Patrick's Dale) is a small village and civil parish in the eastern part of the English Lake District in the Eden District of Cumbria, in the traditional county of Westmorland, and the long valley in which they are found, also ...
,
Kentmere
Kentmere is a valley, village and civil parish in the Lake District National Park, a few miles from Kendal in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. Historically in Westmorland, at the 2011 census Kentmere had a population of 1 ...
and
Troutbeck. The full south-to-north traverse of the High Street ridge from Ings near
Windermere
Windermere (sometimes tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in length, and almost 1 mile (1.5 km) at its wides ...
to the Eamont valley at the northern end of
Ullswater
Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being about long and wide, with a maximum depth a little over . It was scooped out by a glacier in the Last Ice Age.
Geography
It is a typical Lake District "ribbon lake", ...
is a 30-kilometre hike over twelve summits, and should be undertaken only by experienced walkers.
[Bill Birkett: ''Complete Lakeland Fells'': Collins Willow (1994):]
See also
*
Hardknott Roman Fort
Hardknott Roman Fort is an archeological site, the remains of the castra, Roman fort ''Mediobogdum'', located on the western side of the Hardknott Pass in the England, English county of Cumbria. The fort was built between 120 and 138 on a rocky s ...
References
External links
* Computer generated summit panoram
High * [http://www.lakedistrictwalks.net/high-street-walk Lake District Walks - High Street walk] Street
{{Marilyns N Eng
Marilyns of England
Hewitts of England
Fells of the Lake District
Nuttalls
Roman sites in Cumbria
Roman roads in England
Scheduled monuments in Cumbria
Eden District
Patterdale
South Lakeland District